U.S. Sets Hurdles to Intervention in Syria

Syria's official news agency released an image it says shows the aftermath of a blast in Damascus that killed at least 14 people on Tuesday.
Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

By

Peter Nicholas and

Adam Entous

April 30, 2013 1:13 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama raised the bar for military intervention in the civil war in Syria, saying that not only the U.S. but the international community must first agree that chemical weapons were used by the Syrian regime.

Mr. Obama's comments at a news conference Tuesday made clear that he wasn't poised to act unilaterally and suggested he would look for an international consensus in deciding whether President Bashar al-Assad's regime used chemical weapons before committing military forces. In doing so, Mr. Obama made the prospects of a military response more remote.

But under growing pressure from allies Britain and France, U.S. officials said Tuesday that Mr. Obama would consider options that he previously rebuffed, including providing lethal arms to vetted rebel groups.

President Obama held a late-morning news conference covering the possibility of chemical weapons in Syria, the federal sequester and more. Tim Hanrahan reports. Photo: AP.

A United Nations agreement on the issue would be difficult if not impossible to reach: Russia is a longtime ally of Syria and has used its position on the U.N. Security Council to block tougher measures against Mr. Assad.

Meanwhile, top White House and North Atlantic Treaty Organization officials say there is little appetite in the alliance for military intervention in Syria.

Speaking at the White House, the president said: "If I can establish in a way that not only the United States but also the international community feel confident is the use of chemical weapons by the Assad regime, then that is a game changer."

Mr. Obama had previously said that the use of chemical weapons would be unacceptable to him, and has said the Assad regime would cross a "red line" were it to begin to move or make use of chemical weapons.

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After a U.S. intelligence assessment released last week said the regime had likely used chemical weapons—raising expectations of an imminent U.S. response—Mr. Obama repeated that a more thorough inquiry into the evidence was needed.

The U.S. has some evidence that chemical weapons were used, "but we don't know how they were used, when they were used, who used them," Mr. Obama said. "When I am making decisions about America's national security and the potential for taking additional action in response to chemical-weapon use, I've got to make sure I've got the facts."

Having warned that the U.S. wouldn't tolerate the use of chemical weapons, Mr. Obama is facing mounting pressure to take more aggressive action to end the Syrian conflict and defeat Mr. Assad.

Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, among others, have called for the creation of a no-fly zone over Syria, a step that could require the use of warplanes or ship-based cruise missiles to try to destroy Syria's air defenses or aircraft.

One complexity for the administration is that many of the rebels battling Damascus are allied with Islamic extremists. Another is that Mr. Obama wants to avoid being drawn into one more conflict after winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Involvement in the Syrian civil war would be likely to divert his second-term domestic agenda.

The public doesn't appear to want that, either, according to a CBS-New York Times poll conducted April 24-28 in which 62% of those surveyed said the U.S. had no responsibility to intervene in Syria, versus 24% who said the U.S. should get involved.

Mr. Obama suggested that it would be easier to rally Americans and mobilize other countries to act in Syria if the U.S. establishes that the Syrian regime has used chemicals weapons.

Syria hasn't given access for such an inquiry. The country's U.N. ambassador, Bashar Ja'afari, reiterated Tuesday that Damascus wouldn't let U.N. inspectors into Syria to probe charges that the Syrian government used chemical weapons until it is shown evidence warranting such a move. Damascus says it doesn't have chemical weapons; Mr. Ja'afari accused rebels of using them against Syrian civilians.

So far the evidence has been muddled, with Western powers and American intelligence agencies drawing varying conclusions about what the Assad regime has done. As a result, the calls for action have been more muted and the pressure on Mr. Obama to act has increased only slightly, while the death toll in Syria has grown from 3,000 in 2011 to 70,000 as of February, according to the U.N.

In considering possibilities for international action, Mr. Obama has made clear to his aides that his preference is for U.N. backing against Mr. Assad.

Mr. Obama has been moving toward providing nonlethal military aid such as body armor, night-vision goggles and vehicles to rebel groups.

A senior administration official said Tuesday the White House was also considering "the possibility of lethal aid."

For months, the White House has said it could revisit the option of providing lethal aid after Mr. Obama rejected proposals last year to provide arms to vetted rebel groups.

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